It took Julia a moment to remember what happened. She looked at her stitched and bandages arms and wrists. She remembered. "GEORGE!" she cried out in sorrow.

          Her father rushed over from his chair in the hallway. "Julia!" he said in relief.

          "Dad?" Julia asked, lifting her head.]

          "Julia..." her dad repeated. He ran his hand through his daughter's soft red hair. "Why?" he asked.

          "I don't know, George is gone, dad, he's gone," Julia said sadly. "You were right, Merry Christmas to me."

          "Honey, you know I didn't mean any of that," her father confessed. "I'm sorry Julia."

          Julia's deep blue eyes began to fill with tears again. She took hold of her father's hand. "I want to die," she said softly.

          "No, Julia. You can get through this. You will get through this. And when your life is complete, you will die in peace, and be with George...and mom..." Julia's father said reassuringly.

          "I want to see mom again," Julia said.

          "Me too," her father replied, "me too."

          "But Dad, why should I stay here? The only friend I have lives in Chicago. No one else cares about me."

          "Jules...that's not true."

          "Don't call me that! That's what mom called me, not you. Get away from me!" Julia said, raising her voice to a yell.

          Her dad backed away, but continued to speak. "You know something?" When Julia did not respond, he went on. "We named you after the song." He paused as Julia began to cry. "So that at your wedding I could dance with you to that song, and it'd be just for you." He turned away and began to sing. "Julia, seashell eyes, windy smile calls me..."

          Suddenly a face appeared in the door. The girl it belonged to had straight long blonde hair and heavy eye makeup, smudged from apparently crying. "Melanie?" Julia asked in awe.

          "Oh Jules!" Melanie cried as she ran over to Julia's beside. She threw her arms around Julia in happiness.

          "How?..." Julia asked after Melanie released her embraced.

          "You're my best friend, friends are there for each other."

 *       *       *

Julia was released from the hospital later in the afternoon. Her and Melanie headed down to Strawberry Fields, chauffeured by Julia's father. They had stopped at a street side vendor on the way.

          "A dozen white roses please," Julia politely told the vendor. He nodded and asked if she would like anything else.

          Melanie spotted green and violet candles and a blank card. "May we have those too please?" she asked.

          In the car now, they contemplated what to write in the card. The card was white with pink roses on the cover. Julia opened the card and wrote:

My Dear George,

          I love you George, and I need you. When you died, I wanted so badly to go with you. But I found out that I have a friend and a father who love me very much. I would never want to leave them. I still need you, but they need me too.

          Thank you George, I'm not so lonely anymore.

                                                    Love Always,

                                                          Julia Skye

THE END